Brentford, Griffin Park, and a potential Groundshare

[The Southbank]

There has been talk of Brentford potentially having to groundshare with QPR, Fulham or Reading. Could a Brentford fan give us a reason why this would need to happen?

 

[Cardsfan]

If they get promoted to the Premier League I think

 

[Rammy]

Yeah, their ground is not suitable.

 

[MagpieBee]

Yeah, basically it would be time and cost prohibitive to make Griffin Park ready for the Premier League. It could be made just about passable with a few concessions, but it would cost a lot of money which doesn't make sense with the new stadium around the corner.

There are a lot of issues with sharing with Fulham or QPR, mainly with policing, so it doesn't look like it would be possible to do, especially if QPR remain in the PL.

Our board have already suggested they wouldn't want to share with anyone outside of London, but Reading does look the most likely. Other options that have been mooted are Watford, Palace or Twickenham.

It's good having so many options, but most of them come with pretty big problems. Me, along with most Brentford fans, would prefer to stay at GP if possible, even if it hurts our potential fan base for a couple of years.

 

[Madejski]

Surely wouldn't be possible for us to groundshare with Brentford purely because we are already sharing with London Irish. Imagine how bad the pitch would be if there were 4-5 games played on it in one week. Then we have the odd U21 and U18 game there too. The pitch
wouldn't even make it to November.

And don't Watford share with a Rugby team too, which would likely rule them out?

Let's hope it's not a likely scenario...

 

[Veggie Legs]

Don't think Watford ground share with Saracens any more.

 

[Cardsfan]

Yeah Saracens have a new ground so watford dont share. What are the policing problems with Fulham/QPR?

 

[mpmbee]

We are talking with the FA as staying at Griffin Park is far and away the first choice what we would want to do. Things such as space for the media, lack of undersoil heating and the changing rooms not being big enough are against the premier league rules. Also you are not allowed terracing in the prem but we might be let off that one as the stadium is only a couple of years away. If we had to get rid of the terracing for seating then GP capacity will be reduced to 10K roughly.

At the fans forum tonight it was said that Fulham and QPR would be interested, Reading 'willing to discuss an option', Wembley were asked but wanted an astronomical amount of money. Also, Chelsea, Twickenham and Harlequins have ruled themselves out.

 

[The Southbank]

Would be surprised if Brentford got anything like 5,000+ at the Madejski.

 

[BCFC Jordan]

What a load of nonsense. Just let them stay at Griffin Park, ffs.

 

[mpmbee]

Having to watch us play in Reading would be extremely shit.

 

[The Southbank]

Having to watch us play in Reading would be extremely shit.

We have to put up with it every week.

 

[Rammy]

Let's just hope Brentford don't get promoted!

 

[mnb089mnb]

Would be surprised if Brentford got anything like 5,000+ at the Madejski.

If Brentford were in the Premier League I think they could get better attendances than Reading. It'd be fascinating to see.

 

[The Southbank]

If Brentford were in the Premier League I think they could get better attendances than Reading. It'd be fascinating to see.

Really?

I wouldn't go to Brentford to watch Reading in the Premier League. Actually, if it was Griffin Park I probably would.

 

[Tilbury]

If you were to go up and can't stay at Griffin Park you should try for Twickenham. Keep tickets at 20 quid and you might get 20-40k depending on opposition.

 

[Dazza]

Would Bournemouth have the same problem if they get promotion to the Premier League or does their ground meet Premier League standard?

Can't see Brentford playing at our ground.London Irish already play there.The pitch would be a mess.Its not that great this season.

 

[Dazza]

Would be surprised if Brentford got anything like 5,000+ at the Madejski.

Brentford would easily get over 5000 if they used our ground in the Premier League.With the amount of Chelsea, Arsenal and Man United fans living in the town and around Berkshire they would be getting tickets for the games.

 

[MagpieBee]

If you were to go up and can't stay at Griffin Park you should try for Twickenham. Keep tickets at 20 quid and you might get 20-40k depending on opposition.

Twickenham have said no to Chelsea before, so it's quite unlikely they'd say yes to us, but we are very local and they might be willing to lend a helping hand for a season. Most of the fans I know have that as their favourite option, if we can't stay at GP.

Re Policing: Chelsea QPR and Fulham are all clumped in a relatively small area (currently we're a bit further out), and the Met Police have already suggested it would be very difficult to accommodate another club in one of those stadiums, especially if it was also in the PL.

We've had a number of televised games run perfectly fine at GP in the last couple of years, as well as PL teams coming down in the cups. If they can let us off a couple of things temporary measures should be possible to address their main concerns.

I think Bournemouth would have to make some improvements, but their stadium meets more criteria currently than ours does. We didn't even meet all of the criteria for Championship football!

 

[HertsWolf]

I think Twickenham would be great. What about The Valley? It is some time since The Valley hosted decent football but it's a great ground. Even the colours work.

 

[mpmbee]

Twickenham have ruled themselves out.

 

[AFCB_Mark]

Would Bournemouth have the same problem if they get promotion to the Premier League or does their ground meet Premier League standard?

Can't see Brentford playing at our ground.London Irish already play there.The pitch would be a mess.Its not that great this season.

Griffin Park has a terrace section, and is generally much older, which I imagine are the sticking points.

Our ground is small but meets a high standard of modern safety certification, it would be fine, if we ever managed it. The club have sought advice on what tweaks we'd need to make, mostly around improved floodlighting and proper permanent camera positions around the ground for that Sky lot.

 

[Millwall_Matt]

I think Twickenham would be great. What about The Valley? It is some time since The Valley hosted decent football but it's a great ground. Even the colours work.

Or our place, for that matter. Our pitch is generally in a far better state than Charltons!
I wouldn't mind us sharing the Den with Brentford for a year.

 

[Bobbin']

I think Twickenham would be great. What about The Valley? It is some time since The Valley hosted decent football but it's a great ground. Even the colours work.

To think, you were once one of my favourite posters on here.

Or our place, for that matter. Our pitch is generally in a far better state than Charltons!
I wouldn't mind us sharing the Den with Brentford for a year.

To be fair, our new pitch is quite good now after having a new one laid in the summer, shame it's covered in shit every other week.

 

[Millwall_Matt]

I

To think, you were once one of my favourite posters on here.



To be fair, our new pitch is quite good now after having a new one laid in the summer, shame it's covered in shit every other week.

thought there was an endemic issue with drainage at the valley, hence the issues last year?

 

[Bobbin']

There was.

Our previous owner did not have the cash or would not spend the cash - depending on who you speak to, on sorting the issues with the pitch last season. Thankfully, one of the good deeds our new owners have done, is rectify that and we had a brand new pitch laid in the summer.

 

[AFCB_Mark]

We had a drainage problem with one specific area of the pitch for years and years after moving into the new ground. No one could quite figure out why - pitches were laid and re-laid from one season to the next, and still come a few days of rain the same area of the pitch would become very waterlogged.

It wasn't until we had a bit of money to not just take the pitch up, but take all the undersoil base stuff up as well, that we realised the problem. One of the drains under the soil had been mistakenly blocked up right at the initial build. and no one had the thought or had the funds to check it ever since.

Pointless Friday trivia for you all.

 

[Frank]

We don't have the adequate media facilities for the Premier League and I imagine that'd be the major problem. Companies world wide will be paying for the likes of Man Utd, Arsenal, Spurs, City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Everton and of course Burnley, you're talking about a minimum of 8 games where they'll lose out on money.

I don't think the rest of the ground would be a problem as long as Lionel Road is coming on, but the games we have hosted haven't really had the financial boost that the Premier League would have. I'd imagine if the PL allowed us to play at Griffin Park they'd have a lot of unhappy broadcasters who expect to show the game.

 

[The Southbank]

One or two rumours floating about that this is definitely on if you go up.

 

[Madejski]

Would be funny, all of the Prem clubs looking forward to a trip to Griffin Park but having to turn up to the Madejski.